Eva Mendes: Her Allure Photo Shoot

Until recently, Eva Mendes says, her "movie star" title felt "like an uneasy suit." To make her more comfortable, we dressed her in a simple white T-shirt for her Allure cover shoot with Michael Thompson.

Sure, Mendes has a killer body, but she's also learned how to play up her strengths on photo shoots: She sucks in her stomach and tilts her body to the side while keeping her butt down. "We can all look a lot better than we actually are," Mendes says. "You just have to know how to work it." And if you ask her, she has no choice: "I'm the girl who eats a margherita pizza before a photo shoot where I have to be scantily clad. I'm very defiant." Here, Mendes poses for Thompson in a T-shirt by The Row.